Smartphone apps like WhatsApp and ChatOn might have diminished the importance of desktop messengers, but there are still a lot of people who use applications like MSN Messenger, Yahoo and Trillian. While Trillian was originally just a desktop application, it has been around for iOS for quite a while, and has amassed many fans. The iPhone app has always offered all the basic functionalities usually associated with the Trillian service, but it lacked the extra edge and finesse that makes Trillian such a hit on desktop. Now, however, things have taken a turn for the better and Trillian for iOS has been updated with a new interface, along with a ton of fresh features, and got enough juice to grab our attention for a review. The app sports a Dashboard on its main page, where users can pin the most frequently used contacts. Apart from that, there are new emoticons, the notification system has been enhanced and it is now possible to invite your friends over to Trillian via SMS. To top all that, Trillian has gone universal, meaning that you can now enjoy the app fully on your iPad, as well as the iPhone.

If you are new to Trillian, you can sign up for a new app account quite easily. All it takes is your email ID and phone number (so that Trillian can send you a verification code via SMS). Once you have logged in to your account, Trillian automatically scans your iDevice’s address book to look for people who are already using the service. For everyone else, you can send out invitations to join you on Trillian. Even if none of your friends have ever heard of Trillian, you can associate other services with the app and chat with them right from your iPhone. The services supported by Trillian include AIM, Facebook, GTalk, ICQ, Jabber, MySpaceIM, Windows Live and Yahoo!. To add these accounts to your profile, go to the app’s Settings and connect them one at a time from the Accounts menu. Although the contacts from all these accounts are listed on one page by the app, there will be distinct divisions in the Manage Contacts page to let you chat with people more conveniently. Speaking of convenience, the new Trillian dashboard is sure to make many people’s life easier, as you can use it to pin all your favorite contacts, regardless of their source messenger.

When it comes to actual messaging, Trillian has improved greatly in that area, too. If you share an image that is not saved to your device (for example, from another chat window), it will be automatically saved to your iPhone’s camera roll. The emoticon section of chat has been enhanced as well, and has now got great variety. From each contact’s dedicated menu, you can add or remove them from the dashboard, or alter their display name. While you are in a particular chat window, and receive a new message from some other contact, Trillian will notify you within your current screen. This feature has long been requested by a lot of iOS users of the app.

Trillian is a free app, and as we already mentioned, has just gone universal. The user experience is smooth, and the app just might become a regular feature of many people’s iDevices.